Flying Lessons Blog

Emergency Slide Falls Off Plane into Chicago Backyard

July 18, 2023

  Shortly before touching down at Chicago’s O’Hare International Monday afternoon, the emergency slide on United Flight 12 from Zurich fell uninflated, into the backyard of Patrick Devitt. The Boeing 767 landed without incident and it appears the flight crew was unaware of the mishap. That the emergency equipment was missing was noticed by the maintenance crew and reported. The emergency slides on Boeing 767s have been a cause of concern since at least 2014 which is when Boeing sent the first of two bulletins to operators notifying them that there was a problem with slides deploying during maintenance and in flight. The FAA followed… Read More…


Boeing Hides Behind Pilots as Gross Manslaughter is Attached to 737 Max Deaths

July 13, 2023

Families of three British citizens who died in 2019, in the second of two Boeing 737 Max airliner crashes were victims of gross negligence manslaughter. In a ruling earlier this week in England, Senior Coroner Penelope Schofield called the deaths of the three humanitarian workers on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, an “illegal killing.” It is an awkward term to be sure but appropriate for a victory that is similarly conflicted. “Every time family members try to bring Boeing to task, they meet a brick wall,” said Richard Baker, the barrister in England who represented the families. To come to her conclusion, Ms. Schofield relied on… Read More…


Likely Hypoxia Event in Virginia Not As “Rare” as All That

June 10, 2023

The crash of a private jet in Central Virginia on Sunday has striking similarities to air disasters that resulted from the incapacitation of pilots due to a loss of pressurization and one noticeably unusual  (if not unprecedented) element. When pilots of the Cessna Citation failed to respond to numerous radio calls fighter jets were dispatched to check things out. Speeding toward the wayward Citation, at least one of the six Air National Guard F-16s broke the sound barrier, generating a sonic boom heard across the Washington DC region. That more than any other reason explains the headlines about what would be another fatal general aviation… Read More…


Abortion Pills and Airplane Parts – US Judges Split on Who’s the Boss

April 16, 2023

An interesting difference of opinion has emerged among U.S. Federal District Court Judges over whether government agencies have the last word on how they enforce their regulations. A Texas Federal Judge ruled on April 7th, that U.S. Food and Drug Administration improperly certified the abortion pill, Mifepristone and failed to heed the concerns of physicians and associations opposed to it. This post is not about abortion. It points out the curious relationship of that decision with a contrary one by Kansas Federal Judge Monti Belot in a Boeing manufacturing case. In 2014, Belot ruled that the Federal Aviation Administration was the final authority when it… Read More…


Airplanes – A Rare Sanctuary from Mass Shootings in America

April 10, 2023

Today at a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, a man entered with a gun and soon, 5 people were dead and 8 injured. In Orlando, Florida on Sunday, eight people including 3 children were shot in two separate mass shootings. The day before, four people were killed at – get this – “a celebration of life” event in Houston, Texas. There was a mass shooting somewhere in America every.single.day in April. I do not know the circumstances of this most recent shooting.  It does not matter. What matters, is that America is the country where one of humankind’s greatest feats of ingenuity was imagined and accomplished… Read More…


Wright Brothers Historic Site Badly Damaged in Fire

March 26, 2023

The first American airplane factory, a 1910 structure built for Orville and Wilbur Wright, caught fire early this morning in Dayton, Ohio throwing into doubt, long-sought plans to turn the buildings into a historical park under the management of the National Park Service. Firefighters battled the fire for 14 hours but aerial footage from WHIO television shows that the two adjoining brick buildings built by the Wrights along with three others built later, have been badly damaged. Sections of the roof over the Wright factory area appear to have collapsed. In November 1909, Orville Wright announced his Dayton plans to reporters telling them, “We propose… Read More…


Peter Goutiere, Hump Pilot, Hotshot, Storyteller, Rascal, Dead at 108

January 23, 2023

(Note, this story has been changed to correct Peter Goutiere’s age at death, which was 108, not 109.) Peter Goutiere, a World War 2 Hump pilot, died on Sunday at the age of 108. His death leaves Moon Fun Chin, the last surviving member of the group of daredevil aviators who brought troops, food, fuel and other supplies into China after Japan severed China’s only land supply route. Goutiere flew for CNAC, a partnership between the Government of China and Pan American World Airways. Before and during World War 2 flying over the Himalayans was a deadly serious business. The planes were unpressurized and heavily… Read More…


Judge Reopens Criminal Case Against Boeing in 737 Max Crashes

January 20, 2023

A Federal Judge in Texas ordered Boeing to appear in court in San Antonio later this month to be arraigned on the criminal charge of fraud against the United States, for the company’s role in deceiving the Federal Aviation Administration about flaws in its Boeing 737 Max aircraft. Families of the 346 people who died in the crashes of two Boeing 737 Max aircraft in 2018 and 2019 will be present to speak to the court – as is their right as victims of the crimes to which Boeing has already pled guilty. This hearing is a knock-on effect of Judge Reed O’Connor’s ruling last… Read More…


Prior to Near Collision at JFK, AA Pilots Voiced Concern to FAA

January 17, 2023

Prior to the near collision of two airliners departing New York on international flights last week, pilots of American Airlines complained to the Federal Aviation Administration about new operating procedures presented to crews at the beginning of the new year. Now, some American pilots are wondering if those new procedures may have contributed to the near disaster on January 13th by creating confusion on the flight deck. Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board say they are investigating what happened last Friday, when a Delta 737 aborted takeoff during the roll as an American Airlines 777 crossed its path about 1000 feet ahead…. Read More…


New AA Pilot Procedures Could be Part of Investigation into Near Collision at JFK

January 16, 2023

  Two international flights, one an American Airlines Boeing 777 and the other a Delta Air Lines 737 came within a thousand feet of colliding as both were taxiing for take off from New York John F. Kennedy International Airport on Friday night.  The Delta flight, headed for Santo Domingo was cleared to take off and had begun accelerating when American flight 106 to London crossed in front of it. On the control tape, one can hear a partial expletive from the air traffic controller as he realized the conflict. Following swiftly with “Delta 1943 cancel take off plans.” The plane braked sharply as the… Read More…


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